NEW CITY– As of Tuesday, 5,064 polio vaccines have been administered in Rockland County since a confirmed case of polio was detected in a local resident, signaling work by the county Department of Health, State Health Department and Centers for Disease Control to boost immunizations is working.
The age breakdown of the 5,064 polio vaccinations is:
| 0 to 4 | 77.2% |
| 5 to 18 | 13.8% |
| 19 to 64 | 5.0% |
| 65 and up | 4.0% |
Those who are fully immunized are at low risk and the focus remains getting those unvaccinated or behind on their four-dose polio vaccine series up to date with the vaccination, particularly infants and preschool-aged children, because transmission of this disease only happens if overall vaccination rates remain low.
Inactivated Polio Vaccine which is administered in the U.S., is safe and effective and will not cause polio. You can schedule to receive the IPV at our Health Department clinic in Pomona on Mondays and Wednesdays by clicking here. Anyone who needs assistance scheduling an appointment can call the county health department at 845-238-1956.
The state’s recent executive order expands who can administer polio vaccines to include EMS workers, midwives and pharmacists. This move follows the detection of poliovirus in Nassau County, in addition to positive wastewater results in Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and New York City. This indicates that polio is circulating in these communities.
The single paralytic case in Rockland originated overseas from an individual who received the oral polio vaccine, which hasn’t been administered in the U.S. since 2000. The state health department confirms this polio case is linked to strains in wastewater samples found in Israel and the UK, as far back as February.
